Episode 21
by AstraPerAspera
Summary: The Tau'ri are invited to a summit with allies old and new to coordinate their efforts against the Ori, but not everything is as it seems. Oh yeah...and there's a wedding....  SamJack ship follows events of Unending proving the title is true!
1. Teaser

STARGATE SG-1

EPISODE 21

**Teaser **

"And woe to the unbelievers and to those who would harbor them in their breast! They are like a disease among you, spreading their heresy, infecting your thoughts, turning your minds from the true path of salvation. They are an abomination. Worthy of neither your compassion nor your pity, for they have been offered the way of their redemption and yet they have cast it aside with both hands. Who but the most unworthy cannot but see the glory of Origin? Who but the most ill-begotten cannot embrace the salvation Origin brings? Who but those who care not for their future can deny the path to ascension that Origin offers?"

Murmurs of agreement arose from the two hundred beings who sprawled in prostration at the feet of the prior. He gazed over the crowd with satisfaction. There was not an unbeliever among them. They had embraced Origin cycles ago; these were the truly faithful. He could feel the power of their belief channeling through him to the Ori. It was an honor and a privilege to be such a vessel.

But not all were of the same mind. Beside him, on the dais, there was doubt. More than doubt. Downright rejection. Unbelief. Disdain, even. It flowed against the current of faith the others sent through him. It…tarnished it, in some way. Which was why he was here in the first place.

"And if those who defy the path of salvation care not for their fate, then why should you? Send them now to their everlasting doom. Let others who would think that there is another way to salvation see the fate of those who fail to have their eyes opened by the Ori. Let those who do not believe demonstrate to the uncertain the futility of their doubts. Origin is the one, the only, the true path to eternal salvation."

Cries of assent arose from the crowd and the prior smiled benignly. Yes. They were ready. Usually the newly converted supported him out of fear; but these, ah, these were firmly rooted in their belief. He could feel their anger at the heretics. He drew energy from their desire to send the unbelievers to their eternal damnation. They were ready to witness the punishment the troublemakers had so justly earned. His chest swelled with the blood-lust of the crowd. Oh yes. It was time.

"Hallowed are the Ori!" he intoned in his deepest and most sonorous voice.

"Hallowed are the Ori!" the crowd answered in unison.

On their knees, hands bound tightly behind their back, the three heretics looked over the crowd who had just pronounced their death sentence. The one nearest to the prior gave a slight grimace before muttering under his breath.

"Oh crap," said Jack O'Neill with a weary sigh. Next to him, Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson silently agreed.


	2. Act 1

**Act 1**

_**One Week Earlier**_

"So—are you nervous?" Vala was perched atop a stool in Sam's lab just far enough away from the center workstation to allow Sam room to move around it uninhibited. She'd had to ask Vala three times to relocate, since each time she'd moved only a few inches further back, continuing to be right in Sam's path every time she needed to get something. Sam had balanced her need for efficiency with her desire not to hurt Vala's feelings. Still…she could have used just a few less distractions at the moment.

Despite that, Sam really had come to like the woman, although it had taken a bit of time. Sam remembered her not-so-kind remark about the alien as the "extra back-up singer" the time they had set out to stop the first Ori beachhead from being established, and regretted it deeply. Vala had bought them the time they needed to prepare for the next Ori incursion at a very great cost to herself. A cost she was still paying. It hadn't gone unnoticed by Sam how quick Vala was to change the topic or leave the room when conversation turned to Adria and her ascension. Orici or not, it had to hurt like hell when your own daughter tried to kill you.

And, Sam had to admit, when Vala wasn't being annoying, she was sort of fun—in a girl-like kind of way. It had been a while since she'd had another woman at the SGC to talk to about matters other than work—not since Janet's death. She'd had lunch a few times in the commisary with Carolyn Lam , but she was Landry's daughter, after all. And although Sam never doubted her professionalism, there was just something that kept her a little aloof from the CMO, knowing her father was her Commanding Officer.

Sam suspected that Vala's friendship with her was a new experience as well. It was no secret that Vala was renown for working her wiles on men; it was how she had survived most of her life. But a friendship with another woman—it was a whole new territory for her. Sam had realized this after several awkward overtures by Vala and decided, finally, to take her under her wing. A few shopping trips. Some internet dos and don'ts. Girls night out…or in, if the circumstances required them to remain on-base. Sam still wouldn't trust Vala with her innermost secrets, but they'd been through enough together to develop a more than surface friendship. She reminded Sam of Teal'c in his early days of acclimating to earth culture. It had taken awhile for her friendship with him to develop as well, but now she counted him as close as she did Daniel.

Still, as much as she liked Vala, it didn't mean she couldn't be a pest at times. And this was one of those times. Sam had too much to do to waste time on idle chit-chat, and she wasn't sure she wanted to chit or chat with Vala about this particular topic anyway.

"Nervous?" she answered, trying not to think about it too much. "No—why should I be nervous?"

Vala shrugged and tossed her long black hair back behind her shoulder.

"Oh…no reason. I just thought, you know, all brides are supposed to be nervous."

Sam cringed at "bride". Something about that word….

She decided to throw it back at Vala.

"Were you?"

Vala smiled serenely.

"Which time?" she asked, innocently.

"Ah," replied Sam, opting not to go there. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear about the—was it three?—times Vala had gotten married. She crouched over her keyboard, trying to seem absorbed in something that was on the screen. The firewall was running a security sweep, and Sam cursed inwardly. Not even her friendly computer was any help today.

"Anyway, since this is your first time…I just thought…well, I wanted you to know Sam…" Vala hesitated and Sam was forced to look at her. Her voice was so sincere. "If there's anything you want to…you know…_know_…any advice you'd like me to give you…."

It dawned on Sam what she meant and she felt the heat bloom in her cheeks. She was speechless long enough that Vala seemed to think she needed further clarification.

"I mean, I wouldn't exactly consider myself an _expert_, but I have had my share of experience and if you…."

"No!" Sam cut her off as quickly as her brain would allow he mouth to form words. "That's okay, really…I…thanks…but I think…I've got it covered."

Vala's eyes were filled with nothing but genuine concern, which made Sam feel even more uncomfortable. She gave an embarrassed half-smile and turned quickly back to the firewall program. It was about as useful right now as Daniel's dancing pharaoh screensaver, but she studied it as intently as if it held the key to the meaning of all life in the galaxy.

"If you say so," Vala tossed off, thankfully not seeming offended. Out of the corner of her eye Sam saw her gazing distractedly around the lab. She really was like a child sometimes, Sam thought. Easily bored and easily distracted.

"So what's this place you're going on your honeymoon?" Vala asked, sliding off the stool and wandering over to where Sam had left one of her experiments running. As she put out a finger to touch it, Sam winced and couldn't help herself:

"Uh—don't…" she said quickly. Vala studied the object a few more seconds and then turned back to Sam with a beatific smile.

"Some island, some where?"

Sam sighed. If she ever had kids she'd have to remember what it was like dealing with Vala. She'd learned some valuable skills over these past few months.

"Hawaii," Sam replied. "It's in the Pacific Ocean."

Vala's eyes lit up.

"Ooh! I've heard of that. Very lovely—lots of palms trees, beaches. Men in incredibly skimpy bathing suits. A fellow named Elvis lives there incognito, I believe."

Sam frowned in confusion, trying to piece together Vala's unique take on earth culture but was saved from the headache of it by her phone ringing. Vala was closer to it, though, and pounced.

"Colonel Carter's Laboratory," she answered smoothly. Sam sighed and looked at her watch. Four hours until her leave started. She really did need to get out of here for a while.

"Okee-dokee. I'll pass on the message," she heard Vala say brightly before she hung up the phone.

Sam shot her a questioning look.

Vala's return look was just as questioning, but then she caught on.

"Oh—the call. It was General Landry. He wants to see you in his office as soon as possible."

Sam sighed again. He probably wanted a full inventory of what she was leaving unfinished. She'd already shunted a half dozen projects to Dr. Lee; what was left she really didn't feel like letting out of her sight just yet. She'd have to convince Landry that what she was leaving behind was best left untouched until she returned. It was only two weeks, for crying out loud.

Sam headed for the door and then paused. She wasn't sure leaving Vala alone in her lab was a good idea.

"Did you finish that last mission report yet?" she asked, trying to sound tactful. It worked. Vala snapped her fingers and followed Sam to the door.

"I knew there was something I'd forgotten. I guess I just got so swept up in the excitement of your big day it completely slipped my mind. I'd better get that to Landry or he won't let me out to play tomorrow, and you know, Sam, I wouldn't miss your wedding for all the naquada in the galaxy!"

She wriggled her fingers good-bye at Sam and sauntered off in the opposite direction. Sam just shook her head, though she couldn't help but smile. She had to admit, having Vala on the team had made their lives very interesting.

Cam was already in the elevator when the door opened.

"Landry's office?" he asked, punching the button again. Sam nodded.

"Yeah. Me too," he added as the doors hummed shut. "So—you think it will finally happen this time?"

Sam forcibly stifled a sigh. Obviously, this was the only thing anyone wanted to talk about today. She knew she was supposed to be eager to discuss it in all its gory details, but the truth was, the more people asked her about it, the less she wanted to say. The thing was, she'd been around this barbeque once before, as Jack would say, and at this point she figured the less said, the better.

"Third time's a charm," she said, only to realize she'd used a well-worn cliché. One, unfortunately, she'd heard a lot lately.

"Yeah, well it was a darn shame about the last two times. First Teal'c and his 'Jaffa revenge thing', and then the Asgard deciding to make us the Fifth Race."

Sam gave a forced grin.

"You would think by now the rest of the galaxy would know to check my calendar before making any major power shifts," she answered humorlessly. Still, Cam chuckled.

"Ya know, I'm thinking, it's not to late to change your mind about the location. Right there in the gate room, ya see? We could hang some streamers…get some of those paper, honeycomb bells, and decorate the gate ….

Sam couldn't help it. She glowered at him. Fortunately he took the hint.

"Fine…fine. Do it your way, then. Base chapel. Base chaplain. I'm just saying…it coulda been really special…."

She could hear the teasing in his voice. He was just like a kid brother. It was hard to hold it against him. Still, time to change the topic. Sort of.

"So—is Amy coming?" She loved how his face lit up at her question.

"Yeah—yeah! Her plane gets in tonight. I'll pick her up in," he checked his watch. "Whoa. Yeah. About four hours."

Sam was happy for him. Ever since his high school reunion there had been a definite bounce in Cam's step. Vala, of course, had filled her in on the details of Amy Vandenburg , and Cam himself had finally admitted that they'd been working on their relationship long-distance. He'd even asked Sam for her advice on how to keep a relationship going that was separated by too many miles.

"So, you think the two of you, maybe someday…?" Sam asked, still trying to keep the conversation off the events of the following day.

Cam shrugged.

"I'm not sure she's quite ready to deal with what my day job is," he confessed. "Not that she doesn't already have some notion that it's not exactly your typical run-of-the-mill Air Force duty. Still, it's hard, you know. At least you're marrying someone who knows what the risks are and what we deal with everyday."

Knows and wrote the book, thought Sam. Which didn't necessarily make it any easier. Sometimes knowing what was out there was a lot more frightening than not knowing. Ignorance was bliss. God…where were these clichés coming from today?

The door to the elevator slid open and they continued their walk to Landry's office. Cam continued to chat on about—what? Sam realized she hadn't been paying attention. Her mind had been making a mental list of everything that still needed to be done before she could sign out for the day. Only then would she allow herself to think about tomorrow. Sam wasn't superstitious, but having already had her wedding postponed twice, she wouldn't allow herself to believe it was finally going to happen until she was off-duty, out the door and zipping her way home to where Jack was, hopefully by now, waiting for her. She'd left a list on the kitchen table of things he needed to do; with any luck, one or two of them might actually have gotten done.

Cam rapped on the open door of Landry's office and the two of them stepped in. Landry was in the midst of signing some document and after setting down his pen and closing the cover of the folder he looked up at them. His eyes were not smiling and neither was he.

"Colonels." His voice was low and apologetic. Sam had a very bad feeling about what was coming next. "I'm sorry. I hate to do this to you—especially you, Colonel Carter—but I'm canceling your leave…."

Sam felt herself pale; a groan of disappointment made it as far as the back of her throat but she swallowed it down. She needn't have bothered. Cam was complaining enough for both of them.

"Aw come on…!" Cam moaned. "General—now that's just not fair. I mean…I don't care about me—well, actually I do, sir, as I have some plans for the next few days too—but jeeez, come on—Sam here's had her wedding postponed twice already. She deserves to get out of this place for a few day, sir—hell, even if it's just to elope!"

Landry's look was patient.

"I'm well aware of Colonel Carter's sacrifice—and don't think I'm asking this of her—of either of you—lightly. But given the circumstances of the galaxy these days, you both know leaves are conditional and subject to cancellation at a moments notice. And I didn't do this on a whim, you know. We've had intel that the Ori have begun to make incursions into a whole new sector of the galaxy. It's an area they haven't bothered before. Now, given the number of ships that came through when the supergate was activated, we figure at least two of them may have finally reached that region and are recruiting followers as a flanking strategy to get to earth. I need SG1 to go investigate."

Cam was shaking his head.

"That sounds like simple recon, sir. Why can't one of the other teams pick this one up?"

Landry's patience began to wear a little thin.

"Not that I have to explain myself to you, Colonel, but we're stretched pretty thin these days. Between having teams off-world indefinitely under cover trying to support the Ori resistance movements and other teams working to resettle those populations that are trying to escape Ori-targeted worlds, we haven't a man, woman or alien to spare."

Cam, however, was not going to let this go. Sam felt like poking him, but at the moment she was just too tired to care. Guess third time wasn't going to be the charm after all.

"Fine, sir. Fine. I understand. And I'll happily give up my front row seat at the chapel tomorrow, but there's no reason Sam has to tag along for this. The rest of SG1 can handle it—we'll even leave Jackson behind, since he's best man. I'm just asking you, sir—please."

Sam appreciated Mitchell's efforts on her behalf, but she'd been watching Landry. There was more coming, she was sure of it. She wasn't going to get an excused absence from this mission, no matter how ardently Cam argued her case.

"Actually, Mitchell, you're right. Colonel Carter is not going on this mission. And neither is Dr. Jackson. You'll take Teal'c and Vala and do your recon."

A flicker of hope grew in Sam's heart. Still…no. She wasn't buying it. Not yet.

"Why thank you, sir. I really…." Cam didn't finish the sentence. Landry cut him off.

"They're not going with you because I need to send them on another assignment." He looked directly at Sam. "We've been contacted by a member of the Tok'ra—one Cedrun of Antigon," Landry checked his notes. "He's requested a summit with members of the Jaffa, some of the more moderate factions of the Lucian Alliance and the Tau'ri in order to discuss how we might mount a more unified offensive against the Ori. They'd also like to talk with us about the possibility of contacting the Nox to aid in the fight. Colonel Carter, you and Dr. Jackson will be escorting the Tau'ri representative to that summit."

Sam felt the pit of her stomach drop. She'd given up her wedding for Teal'c. She'd given up her wedding for the Asgard. Now she was having to give it up so she could baby-sit some bureaucratic _shrub_ on a mission that was doomed from the start. It was all she could do to keep the anger from her voice.

"Sir, trying to enlist the aid of the Nox is a galactic waste of time. They're a peaceful race who wouldn't even defend themselves against the goa'uld. They're not going to get involved in a war against the Ori."

"That's what _I_ tried to tell them," said a familiar voice from behind them. Sam and Cam both whirled and Sam realized he'd been in the corner of the room the whole time.

A half smile creased Landry's face.

"Colonel Carter—meet the Tau'ri representative to the summit."

Leaning against the wall of the office that used to be his, Jack O'Neill offered a weak smile and waved.

o-o-o-o

"So, let me get this straight—they're sending _you_ to negotiate with the Tok'ra, the Jaffa and the Lucian Alliance to form a united front against the Ori _and_ try to bring in the Nox?" Daniel's voice reflected more disbelief than confusion.

"Boggles the mind, doesn't it?" Jack replied, turning one of Daniel's ancient artifacts over and over in his hand. Sam could tell that Daniel just wanted to snatch it away from him and was keeping from doing so only with great restraint.

"I don't get it, sir," Sam said, slipping easily into their working relationship. "Aside from trading some intel on the Ori, we've hardly heard anything from the Tok'ra since the defeat of the system lords, and what we have heard would suggest that without the common goal of defeating the goa'uld they've become as fractured as the Jaffa. And as for the Lucian Alliance…"

"I don't think we're exactly high on their list of favorite people. Katan did try to have us all killed, after all," finished Daniel.

"There's an old saying, Daniel…desperate times make for strange bed-fellows…" Jack stopped a moment, frowned, and then continued. "Or something like that. Anyway," and this time, Sam noted, his voice was serious and completely without jest. "The simple fact is, everything we've tried against the Ori has failed."

"We don't know that, Jack. It may very well have succeeded, it's just…well, without actually going to the Ori home world…." Daniel interrupted.

"Not exactly on our list of top ten travel destinations, Daniel. And you're right—we don't know. And we can't assume. Now that Adria has ascended we haven't a clue what we might be dealing with, and its pretty apparent that with or without her, the priors are going to keep on trying to convert the galaxy."

"If we could speed the reverse engineering of the Asgard weapons," began Sam, but Jack cut her off.

"That could take months. Hell, even years. And I'm not sure we're ready to share all that cool Asgard stuff with the rest of the galaxy yet anyway. Look what happened on Dakara. That's too much firepower to just hand out like popcicles."

He sighed and set down Daniel's artifact.

"No--the president and the IOA are in agreement on this. We have to work on consolidating the power that's out there, and if the Tok'ra and the Jaffa and the Lucian Alliance are willing to talk, we need to meet with them. Even if this bunch doesn't represent all of their respective organizations. If we can get some of them, then maybe we can eventually get all of them. I'm still not sure what good it's going to do us, but it's better than sitting around with our heads up our…" he paused, swallowed, and continued. "Ah…shirts, waiting to see what happens next."

"That still doesn't explain why you're going," countered Daniel. "You and the Tok'ra aren't exactly the best of friends, now that Jacob's gone."

"It's the Nox," interjected Sam, looking at Jack. He met her look and nodded. "General O'Neill is the only one who's ever made contact with them. The Tok'ra and the others must think he's their best shot at trying to convince them to join the fight."

Daniel shook his head.

"The Nox are a peaceful race. They're not going to get involved anymore than the Asgard did or the Ancients—the ascended ones, I mean—will. And of the four original races, that only leaves the Furlings…."

Jack raised a deflecting hand.

"Don't…" he snapped. "Don't say that name. I still can't think of those guys without this whole Ewok thing coming to mind."

Daniel frowned at Jack before continuing.

"…and they haven't been heard from in millennia. Thor said they did not think they even existed anymore, it had been so long since they had made contact."

"Which just leaves us," concluded Sam with a sigh. "The Fifth Race."

"The Fifth Race with a whole bunch of really cool data and technology and weapons, thanks to the Asgard and one very smart Lieutenant Colonel," amended Jack, with a proud smile at Sam.

She winced. Teal'c had only briefly sketched the details of their efforts in the time dilation field and had left more questions unanswered than answered. She couldn't begin to imagine what their lives had been like and had been doing her best not to dwell on it too much. Still, it was hard to see Teal'c, decades older and with that streak of white in his hair, and not be reminded of it every time.

"No so smart if it took me fifty years to figure out," she muttered, and was glad when Jack did not come back with some smart quip. Somehow that whole scenario seemed too horrible to joke about. Fifty years without Jack…she'd let her mind take her there a time or two since they had gotten back and even in theory the grief was overwhelming. It was not a thought she wanted to visit very often.

"What if the only reason they've invited us to this meeting is because they think we'll share the Asgard technology with them?" asked Daniel, looking at her and then Jack. Sam shook her head.

"Then they're going to be disappointed," she replied.

"_Very_…disappointed," Daniel emphasized. Both he and Sam looked at Jack.

"We're just going to go and listen," he assured them. "We're not making any promises. We can't. But it's better than sitting on our collective asses waiting for those giant toilet seats to show up here and start brow-beating everyone into Origin."

Daniel let out a heavy sigh and gave a nod of his head, conceding the point, and Sam had to agree. She just wished the Tok'ra had waited a few more days.

o-o-o-o

The vest just wasn't fitting properly. Sam unfastened it and checked the trouble spot, readjusting the polymer insert beneath the armhole so it didn't poke her. The door to the gear up room opened and she looked up to see Jack standing there.

"You almost ready?" he asked. He was wearing green off-world BDUs under his own tactical vest and if it weren't for a bit more fullness of face, she would have sworn the clock had turned back four years and Hammond was sending them out on any given mission. The thought made her melancholy.

"Hey—you okay?" he asked, apparently picking up her mood. Sam figured there was no point hiding it. He knew her too well anyway.

"I hate this, you know."

Jack looked over his shoulder and, apparently seeing no one, eased in the door and shut it behind him.

"Look Sam. I do too. Don't think I wasn't pissed when I get a phone call from Landry telling me the IOA wants me on this. And when he told me he was assigning you and Daniel…" Jack's eyes were dark with anger. Sam could see his jaw clenching and unclenching.

"I called and cancelled everything. And I finally got a hold of Cassie and told her we were on hold again," Sam told him.

"How she'd take it?" he asked. Sam had to smile.

"Let's just say I think she's learned a few choice phrases from hanging around with you, Jack."

He grinned back for a moment, but then his smile faded. He stepped a few inches closer. Sam thought he looked tired. She recalled the list she'd left on the kitchen table and realized that he probably hadn't even made it home but had come straight to the mountain from DC. Not that it mattered now, anyway.

"Look, Sam—I swear. The minute we get back…I don't care if we get the base chapel or the band shell at the park or our very own front porch…."

The door to the room opened again and Daniel stuck his head in. When he saw Jack standing so close to Sam she sensed he regretted just barging in, but since the damage was done, he cleared his throat nervously.

"Uh…sorry to interrupt. You guys almost ready? Landry says the Odyssey is ready to beam us up anytime…."

"In a minute, Daniel," replied Jack, with no small degree of irritation. Daniel seemed not to notice but jerked a thumb in the direction behind him.

"It's just that Landry…"

"Tell Hank we'll be right there and Daniel…."

"Yes, Jack?"

"Be sure to shut the door on the way out."

Daniel's eyebrows shot up and nodding knowingly, he finally withdrew, pulling the door shut behind him.

"We should go," said Sam, trying to sound matter of fact. It was dangerous having Jack in here with her. Not for her professional status but for her emotional one. He was the only one who could absolutely get her to lower her shields. All he had to do was give her that "Jack" look…. Another minute and she wouldn't be able to guarantee her composure. She headed for the door.

"Sam…" he reached out a hand to stop her. Sam looked up into his eyes and saw her own disappointment, her own fear, her own loss reflected back at her. After a moment Jack, sighing, dropped his hand and acquiesced with a nod. "Right," he said, wearily. "Let's go."

Five minutes later, with one of the heaviest hearts ever, Sam felt the eerie tingling of the transporter beam encircle her and she vanished from the SGC.


	3. Act 2

**Act 2**

"So, exactly what planet are we on?" Jack asked for the third time in the past hour. That was how long they had been walking since coming through the stargate. It wasn't an unpleasant walk, Sam noted, just long, and not what they had expected. Not surprisingly their Jaffa escort did not answer, but merely kept on trudging ahead. Sam could almost hear the clanging of their armor…except they weren't wearing any. Still, the way they carried themselves, and their entire attitude of indifference, made her wonder if these were really Free Jaffa after all.

Three days aboard the Odyssey had brought them to the planet to which they had received the coordinates from the Tok'ra, Cedrun of Antigon. Sam had wracked Jolinar's memories but could find no recollection of this particular Tok'ra. Which didn't mean anything, she had assured herself. No single symbiote would have all that information, and just because Jolinar had never met or heard of Cedrun didn't mean this was a problem.

At least it hadn't been until they made two decidedly disconcerting discoveries. The first was that the planet did indeed contain a stargate, even though their contact had led them to believe that it was only accessible by ship; the second was that the Jaffa insisted that they use that same stargate to travel to yet another planet where the summit was to take place. Sam's instinct had been to refuse, and she could see the belligerent look that Jack was getting as well, but Daniel had intervened, made one of his eloquent speeches about the need for trust especially when up against as intractable an enemy as the Ori, and after a brief communication with Odyssey advising them of the change of plans, the three of them had stepped through the gate, arriving in their present location.

"Talkative type," observed Jack sarcastically, when his question went unanswered. "You know, we are supposed to be allies in this. A little give and take here wouldn't hurt." But the Jaffa remained silent and Sam could see a certain wariness settling in on Jack's brow. She was getting the same sensation. Things were not as they should have been.

Finally, rounding a tree-lined bend in the road, they emerged from the untamed land they had been walking through and saw, not far in the distance, what appeared to be the remains of an old pyramid. The top was sheared off at an odd angle, and clusters of broken-off stones littered the base of it in a sporadic fashion, as though some effort had once been made to salvage the broken pieces for restoration. But if that were the case, the workers had abandoned it years ago, for the clusters themselves were chalking and disintegrating into the ground around them.

Their Jaffa escort led them toward it, wordlessly wending their way around the various slag piles until they came to the door of the pyramid. Just standing in front of it sent spidery shivers up an down Sam's spine. She'd been in too many pyramids to feel comfortable anywhere near one, even if there wasn't a goa'uld in sight. She glanced at Jack, trying to take a reading of his reaction to their locale, but he was determinedly blank-faced—which in itself was telling. Jack smelled a rat. She would bet a day's pay on it.

The door slid open in front of them and even in the dim light on this shaded side of the structure Sam could make out the typical goa'uld interior décor. Golden walls, lots of writing. It could have been any of a hundred structures she'd been in over the past ten years, most of them not very pleasant. This time she looked at Daniel. The years may have tamped down his idealism, but he wasn't nearly as schooled as Jack in wearing the mask of indifference. He was frowning at the view, clearly as hesitant about entering as she was.

From the shadows within, a large shape stepped forward. Sam could at once sense the symbiote. Instinctively she tightened her grip on her weapon and she knew Jack did too. The individual smiled at them, either not noticing their reaction or choosing to ignore it. He made a slight bow.

"Welcome. I am Cedrun of the Tok'ra. We have been expecting you."

o-o-o-o

Chief Walter Harriman rapped smartly on the door of General Landry's office and was half way in the room before Landry's permission to enter had even left his lips. Not that the general particularly minded. The Chief had enough sense not to barge in unless it was something important, and Landry could tell from his aide's face that whatever it was couldn't wait.

"It's from Colonel Davidson, sir," he said, handing the paper to Landry, who was relieved to take a break from looking over personnel reviews all morning. Not his favorite thing to do, although it was going a lot more smoothly than last year. Sometimes it was just damned hard to apply the usual Air Force standards to this group of people. What they did day to day was just, well, not within the ordinary AF job description.

Landry took the message and studied it.

Damn.

"When did this come through?" he asked, looking for a time stamp. The note was hand-written—an indication of haste.

"Just a few moments ago, sir," Harriman replied.

Landry rose to his feet, coming around the desk.

"Get him back for me, Chief. Right away."

Harriman was out the door and down to the control room in a heartbeat. Landry was only a few paces behind him. His thoughts flew in two different directions at once. Tactically, he wanted to stop the Odyssey from pursuing the location of the SG delegation until he had a better understanding of just what the hell had transpired on that planet. Personally, he wondered what in God's name was Jack thinking to agree to gate to another planet without backup. The man had more experience than all the SG teams put together; was he so long behind a desk these days that he couldn't remember what SOP was? And surely Carter and Jackson would have reminded him. Unless they'd had no choice.

As he clamored down the steps from the briefing room, Landry ran over possible scenarios in his mind. Truth be told, he'd had a bad feeling about this summit from the beginning. He hated depending on sources other than his own trusted cadre of contacts for intel, and this invitation had come from outside their usual network of Tok'ra. Usually he would have spent more time verifying the validity of the source, but once the IOA had found out about the summit, they had all but insisted that a representative be sent; and they'd been adamant that that representative be Jack O'Neill.

The more he thought about it, the more Landry got a funny feeling in his bones.

It didn't feel any better a few moments latter when Colonel Davidson appeared on the view screen from the bridge of the Odyssey.

"Report," he requested, trying to take the irritation out of his voice. This wasn't Davidson's fault.

"We were just about to set course for the location of the summit, sir. Dr. Jackson provided the gate coordinates of the planet and requested we rendezvous with them there. For expediency sake they were going on ahead by gate."

There was logic to it, Landry had to admit, but why hadn't they just provided the coordinates to the destination planet in the first place, if it was accessible by gate? A number of perfectly reasonably explanations sprang to mind, but they all ran contrary to what his gut was telling him. And it wasn't good.

"Have you determined the location of the summit yet?" Landry asked the image on the screen. Davidson looked off to his left and seemed to consult with someone else on the bridge. Nodding at them, he leaned over and retrieved a piece of paper, looking at it as he moved back into the visual range of the screen.

"The gate address checks out as P4X-548, General. We have the coordinates laid in , ready to give the word."

Landry wasn't ready to give that word just yet.

"Sit tight, Colonel. Let us check that out first. We'll get back to you. Landry out." And with that the view screen went black.

Landry turned to Harriman.

"Chief, I want you to check….

"Already on it, sir," the chief answered before Landry could even get the words out of his mouth. Sometimes, he thought, he really would like to finish a sentence.

"Let me know as soon as you have something," he said instead. Heading back to the stairs he tried to dismiss the thought that whatever the MALP found on P4X-548, it wasn't likely to be Jack and the half of SG1 he'd taken with him.

o-o-o-o

"May I introduce Hazon Darr of the Lucien Alliance and Kete'c of the Jaffa," said Cedrun with a sweeping gesture. He had led them through the bowels of the pyramid to a deep inner chamber suited out with a large table, lined by six chairs, and a long wall, lined by a whole heck of a lot more than six Jaffa.

Jack felt like he was on a mothership.

He'd felt twitchy since the moment the unnamed Jaffa had appeared, informing them that they would need to travel the rest of the way to the summit by stargate. Something hadn't seemed right about it, but he'd let Daniel ostensibly talk them into trusting the guys and now here they were. Seeing all those staff weapons lined up in a row gave Jack a real nasty blast from the past, causing parts of his body to start aching sympathetically. It wasn't that he didn't trust the Jaffa now that they had thrown off their goa'uld masters, but he'd dodged too many staff blasts, suffered too many pain sticks and seen too many body bags of SGC members brought back through the gate filled with Jaffa handiwork to ever, _ever_, trust them completely. Teal'c excluded, of course.

He caught Sam's eye. Yeah, she wasn't buying this either. He couldn't tell about Daniel. Either he was really caught up in this whole alliance business or he had gotten a lot better at bluffing than he used to be. Jack couldn't read Daniel the way he had before. The kid had been an open book for a long time, but not anymore. But hey, when you'd been through all the things Daniel had been through…well, Jack wondered how the guy kept it together as well as he did.

Jack's attention focused once more on their host, the Tok'ra. As far as he could tell, he was typical of his kind, bouncing back and forth between letting the symbiote and the host speak. Jack had gotten over the creepiness of that because of Jacob and Selmak, but still, a snake in the head was a snake in the head. And the Tok'ra and their secrets had never exactly inspired mutual trust with the SGC. The smile on Cedrun's face was just a little too welcoming; his attitude a little too open. Oh yeah. Definitely something up. Jack was glad Carter had insisted on giving the coordinates of this place to the Odyssey before they left.

The last member of the welcoming committee was one of Katan's former lieutenants—Hazy Day, or something like that. Jack had never personally encountered a member of the Lucian Alliance before, but he had no love for any of them. Not only had they tortured Sam and the rest of SG1, but they were responsible for the death of a good officer. Jack had personally selected Paul Emerson to command the Odyssey. Sam's account of his death had gotten to him more than he had wanted to admit. Even her composure had slipped as she'd told him, making it even worse. Emerson was a good man. He'd deserved better than to be murdered by a gang of low-lifes on the bridge of his own ship.

So. Not exactly a gathering of best buddies, Jack concluded, gazing at each delegate in return. Well. He'd dealt with worse. At least, it had seemed worse at the time. Still, something was off about this whole set-up. He'd be on his guard, and he knew Sam would too. Daniel. Well, he'd given up worrying about Daniel long ago. No matter what happened, Daniel would be alright in the end. He always was.

Jack figured it was time to return introductions. At one time he might have made some off-handed quip that would have made Sam stifle a laugh and Daniel roll his eyes, but that was when he'd been a smart-ass Colonel. He was a smart-ass General now and more was expected of him. Time, he knew, to step up to the task.

"General Jack O'Neill," he responded to Cedrun's introductions. "Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson." He indicated the others in turn. Everyone nodded at each other. Jack thought they all looked like those bobble-head do-hickies.

When the nodding was done, there was a moment of uncomfortable silence. Finally Jack nodded toward the table and chairs.

"Shall I presume we should all, you know, sit?"

"That would be a very good idea, General," replied Cedrun. "Except it would be a tremendous waste of effort by everyone involved."

There was a rush of action and the damned familiar sound of staff weapons being primed. Instantly he and Sam and Daniel were back to back, their own weapons raised, but a quick glance told Jack they might as well have been holding sticks. And his eyes only just now caught the glint of the ribbon device on the hand of the Tok'ra. Damn! Where had that come from? Even Hazy Day had some kind of pistol drawn on them. Jack did the math and knew they were out-gunned. If they had any hope of getting out of here alive, it was time to try a different tactic.

Daniel beat him to it.

"Whoa…what's going on here?" he asked. "I thought we were supposed to be talking about an alliance?"

"We came here in good faith," Sam added. Jack could feel her tenseness as she pressed her back to his.

"As we knew you would," Cedrun replied smoothly with a slight smirk that reminded Jack of why it was he never liked the Tok'ra too much in the first place. Same goa'uld arrogance, just a slightly different MO. "In fact, we counted on your unique Tau'ri penchant for making friends out of former enemies to assure that you—that is, the three of you specifically—would come. Now, if I may suggest that you drop your weapons, we'll get on to the real business of this meeting."

Jack was about to give the order when he heard Sam mutter under her breath: "Do it." Oh yeah. He'd almost forgotten. He wasn't actually in charge of this field trip; he was just the invited guest. It was Sam's call, and it was the right one.

Both he and Daniel complied, the three of them easing their weapons downward and then unclipping them. Three Jaffa stepped forward to collect them, handing the guns back to others who stood behind. Then the same three Jaffa seized each of them by the arm and separated them. Jack saw Sam try to jerk her arm away from her captor, but her escort was as tall as Teal'c and twice the mass, so she didn't have much success. When the annoyed Jaffa raised his hand as though to hit her, Jack gathered himself to make a run for the guy, but Kete'c said something in Jaffa-ese and the goon lowered his arm. Jack let a soft hiss out through his teeth. Oh yeah. This was why he had kept those feelings for Sam so carefully tucked away all those years they worked together. A 2IC in danger he could deal with; a threat to the person he loved more than life itself…not such a good thing.

The relief that the Jaffa goon hadn't struck Sam lasted only a few seconds. Both Sam and Daniel were being led out of the room, half the contingent of Jaffa following in their wake.

"Hold on there," Jack protested, turning to Cedrun. "Just where they hell do you think you're taking them?"

Cedrun smirked once again and shared a bemused glance with Kete'c and Hazy Day.

"Someplace where their well-being will be unknown to you, General. It is our hope that your willingness to assist us will be…enhanced, shall we say, by your uncertainty over their welfare. Especially the welfare of Colonel Carter. If I am not mistaken she is, after all, your mate?"

Jack felt a burning sensation in his gut. This was no mere strong-arming by a bunch of fringe elements of the galaxy; there was some high-level intel at work here and a very carefully laid out plan. Whatever they wanted, Jack knew it had to be big. Very big.

And there was only one thing he had access to that was that big.

The Odyssey.

Complete with all its Asgard upgrades and database.

Jack groaned inwardly.

Someone had set them up. Someone had set them up good.

He decided it was time to be dumb Jack.

"Excuse me…?" he said, hoping he sounded incredulous enough. "She s supposed to be my…what?"

"There's no point denying it, General. I have it on very good authority that you and Colonel Carter have been mated for quite some time. And of course your friendship with Dr. Jackson is well known. Which is why he and Colonel Carter made such perfect escorts for you on this little trip."

Good authority. Okay. So there definitely was a leak. Only a handful of people knew about him and Sam, and no one at the SGC except for SG1 and Landry. This had to go higher; much higher.

Which really didn't make much difference right at the moment. Time to deal with the matter at hand. He'd leave the rest for later.

"Okay. So. Now. What?"

Cedrun gestured toward the table.

"Now we sit and discuss what it is we brought you here for. If we can come to an amicible arrangement, you and your…friends…may leave unharmed. If we cannot…well, we believe you will find that we can be…most persuasive."

Jack grimaced. Yeah. Not one of his better days.


	4. Act 3

**Act 3**

"So…you guys just, what, meet up at some bar and decide to take over the galaxy?" asked Jack as the others took their places opposite him at the table.

"Our goal is to defeat the armies of the Ori," replied Hazon Darr in a voice that sounded as though perhaps it came from a throat that had once been cut. Jack could see a scar that would support that supposition.

"Now see—that's the same thing we want to do. So wouldn't it be better to work together to do that than mess around with all this nasty business of threats and blackmail?"

"No." The response from Kete'c was swift and Jack turned to him, an eyebrow raised.

"Just 'No'?" he asked "Any particular reason?"

The Jaffa's eye narrowed and Jack could almost feel the hatred pouring off the guy. His was not going to be an easy mind to change.

"Okay…." murmured Jack, half to himself. He turned next to Cedrun. "What about you? What's your beef with earth?"

The Tok'ra frowned for a moment, obviously trying to figure out Jack's idiom. Finally he seemed to catch its meaning.

"I have no issues with your small planet, General. In fact, I am a great admirer of you and your people. You have become quite resourceful over the past few years, and now that you have become the Fifth Race, I find you all quite fascinating."

"Ahh." Jack sighed. Yeah. Just as he figured. Asgard stuff.

"Just so I'm clear," he added, offering up his best befuddled look. "The whole thing about the Nox…?"

Cedrun beamed.

"A simple ruse to assure your participation, General. What we wish to talk about are the Asgard. And more precisely, the Asgard technology currently imbedded within the systems of the Odyssey."

Clunk. There was the other shoe dropping. Just as he'd thought.

"I see," replied Jack, furrowing his brow as if contemplating Cedrun's words. Sam had put Odyssey on stand-by when she'd had Daniel radio the gate adress. If Davidson hadn't heard from them in twenty-four hours, he would bring Odyssey to the planet to investigate, in essence, delivering it right into Cedrun's hands. No wonder the Jaffa had given up the address so easily. Good will, my ass.

"As my Tok'ra friend has pointed out," Hazy Day broke into Jack's thoughts. "If you cooperate with us, you all get to leave. Nobody gets hurt. If we have to demonstrate our commitment to this endeavor…well…," the corner of his mouth turned up. Jack wanted to slug him.

"Okay, just so you guys are clear on this," Jack said, after clearing his throat and massaging the knuckles that so desperately wanted to make contact with any one of the three faces in front of him. "There's not a snowball's chance in Netu that I'm going to turn one nanobyte of Asgard technology over to any of the three of you. Just so you're clear."

The three exchanged looks, and Jack guessed that they had already known what his answer would be. He waited for what their next move would be.

"We already know, General, that the Odyssey will indeed turn up here sooner or later when they do not receive any contact from you within a certain time frame. So, in a way, this whole discussion is a moot point," Cedrun replied.

"Well, if the point is so moot, then why even discuss it?" Jack threw back at him. If he could figure out the trio's strategy here, maybe he could devise some way out of this. And they were just arrogant enough that he might be able to goad them into giving away more about the source of their information than they had intended. It was worth a shot.

"Because we also know that the complexity of the Asgard technology is beyond the capabilities of any of us. We need the assistance of someone who has already worked extensively with it."

"Well, don't look at me. Carter's the…." Jack's voice trailed off, understanding. Oh yeah. He'd gotten it right that time. The smirking son of a bitch Tok'ra was grinning ear to ear.

"And I believe Daniel Jackson has put significant effort into working on translating some of the Asgard data base," Cedrun added serenely.

Yeah. His fist. Cedrun's nose. It would feel so good.

And be absolutely useless.

"Okay. So you need Carter and Daniel. What the hell am I here for then?" Jack asked, figuring there was no point in beating around the bush any longer.

"To order them to do it."

"Like hell I will."

"Oh, indeed you will, General. You see, I've found that pain can be a very useful motivator."

"I've been tortured. By the best, I might add."

"Oh, we wouldn't dream of trying to compete with your experience with Ba'al, General. In fact, we don't intend to harm a hair on your head. Actually, we find torture to be much more effective when it's done on someone else. Say…Dr. Jackson, for example. Or perhaps Colonel Carter."

"If you kill them you won't have anyone who can get you what you need off that ship."

"Oh I agree. Killing would be a waste of resources. But I have found that an individual is still capable of accomplishing a great many things even when they are suffering the most excruciating pain. And I have also found that persons such as you are far more willing to take on such pain yourself than to watch others suffer it for you. So. I'll ask you again, General. Order Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson to assist us with the Asgard technology."

"No."

"Then I must say, with all sincerity, that I do deeply regret what is going to happen next."

o-o-o-o

"UNSCHEDULED OFF-WORLD ACTIVATION"

The announcement blasted into Landry's office and brought him to his feet in an instant. He refused to allow himself to hope it was O'Neill and Company returning. Not after the MALP to P4X-548 had discovered no evidence of anyone having used that gate in a very long time; it was frozen in a glacier. Obviously the gate address the Jaffa had given to the Odyssey was bogus. Now Jack and his people were out there who knew where and he hadn't a clue where to begin to look for them.

Unless this, of course, was the prodigals returning home.

But he wasn't getting his hopes up.

And good thing too, he mused a few moments later, as Mitchell, Teal'c and Vala stepped through the great blue puddle and the iris swiveled shut behind them. Landry heaved a sigh of disappointment and started down the stairs to meet the other half of SG1.

He didn't have to go far. Mitchell was taking the stairs two at a time.

"Colonel—you're back ahead of schedule," observed Landry as they met half-way.

"Yes, sir. There wasn't much reason to stay any longer. It was a bust, General. Not only are there no Ori soldiers on the planet…hell, there aren't even any people on that planet."

The two men continued to walk up the stairs together, Landry leading the way

"Explain," he said. Mitchell pulled off his cap and wiped his brow as they moved into the briefing room.

"It was empty sir. Oh a pretty place, to be sure. But no humans. No sign that there ever had been any either. If anyone ever did use that stargate it was too long ago to leave any trace of anything. Damn thing was buried in a bunch of brambles."

Landry indicated a chair at the table in the briefing room and Mitchell threw himself into it. The colonel was well scratched up and not exactly as fresh as a daisy, but something had been niggling at Landry since the gate address from the Odyssey had come up dry and Mitchell's report was only solidifying that feeling. He needed as sounding board.

"We've lost track of General O'Neill, Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson," he told him. Mitchell's face darkened considerably.

"When you say 'lost track', sir, you mean as in…"

"As in they gated to another planet from the one the Odyssey brought them to and they haven't been heard from since. They radioed the Odyssey the gate address they were supposedly heading to, but when we sent a MALP we found it an uninhabited planet. No sign of them."

Mitchell's hand smacked the table.

"Damn."

"Yes. Well. Now you come back from some place where we're supposed to be heading off an Ori army incursion only to tell me there's no one there as well. Is it just me or am I detecting a pattern here?"

Mitchell furrowed his brow.

"If you don't mind my asking, sir—just where did that intel come from?"

Landry pulled out a chair and finally sat at the head of the table. Without the rest of SG1 there it seemed enormous and vacant. He tried not to glance at the empty chairs.

"Ah. Now that's the real question. Seems we were the beneficiaries of a largess, compliments of the NID. One of their operatives, imbedded in the Trust, supposedly fed them the information, which was passed on to us, through the IOA."

"The IOA?" asked Mitchell, sounding confused. "Why would they go through the IOA instead of coming to us directly as they usually do. Agent Barrett…"

"This didn't come through Agent Barrett. In fact, when I called Barrett to try to confirm, I learned he's been on vacation. No one could seem to pinpoint for me who had passed along the information, but when it came through Woolsey's office, I really didn't have a choice but to follow up."

"Woolsey," spat Mitchell, as if the name tasted bad in his mouth. "Why am I not surprised."

Landry shook his head.

"Think of Woolsey what you will, Colonel, but believe it or not, he's always been on our side…more or less."

"Yeah, well, I'm afraid I've seen the less side a lot more than the more side. I guess I just can't let go of the fact that he wanted to have Jackson killed when he showed up here a prior."

"You didn't believe Dr. Jackson either, at first, Colonel," Landry reminded him. Mitchell looked sheepish.

"My mistake," he answered simply. "So…we got sent on a wild goose chase. For what purpose, do you suppose?"

Landry leaned back in the chair and frowned.

"That's the part I can't quite figure out. Except that I would bet my general's stars that it's tied in with General O'Neill's disappearance somehow."

"And where, exactly, did that invite come from?" Mitchell asked him, crossing his arms in front of him. Landry shook his head.

"We received a communication from a Tok'ra named Cedrun telling us he represented a coalition of Tok'ra who wanted to take a more active role in fighting the armies of the Ori. We haven't exactly been cozy with the Tok'ra since Selmak died. We've exchanged intelligence from time to time, but I'll be honest…they're as fractured as the Jaffa are these days. We tried to verify Cedrun's position, but we couldn't really find anyone with enough knowledge to give us a satisfactory answer. So in the end, we figured it was better to err on the side of trust with a former ally than to miss an opportunity to gain some more support for the war. And there are a lot of motherships out there in Tok'ra hands."

"So another mysterious source," concluded Cam. Landry nodded.

"So it would seem. Oh…and I might add, the IOA was adamant that it be General O'Neill who would be our representative to this summit."

Mitchell was hanging his head and shaking it.

"Well, as my grandma used to say, sir--if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…"

"Well, in this case, Colonel, I think it's a goose…and ours may be cooked."

o-o-o-o

"I should have gone with them." Teal'c's conclusion was irrefutable, Mitchell thought. They all should have gone with them. But they'd been played. And played good.

"20/20, Teal'c. We should have all gone. But Landry figures it was deliberate. Send us off someplace to look for phantom soldiers, and cuz the SGC's stretched so thin these days, splinter off Sam and Daniel to go with General O'Neill. It's an old, old strategy. Divide and conquer."

"Well, it seems to have worked quite efficiently," murmured Vala, sitting on the gurney in the infirmary. She was sporting a large scratch across her cheek and had a cold pack applied to her hand, under which Cam could spot some surface swelling. Those thorn bushes had been nasty.

"What is General Landry's strategy?" asked Teal'c, who hadn't a mark on him, although Cam still could not get used to the slightly older appearance of the Jaffa and the white streak in his hair.

"At the moment, sit tight. He figures if it's blackmail, we'll hear from whomever it is, sooner or later. And he's already got a pretty good idea of what it is they're going to be wanting."

Vala knit her brow, trying to grasp Cam's meeting. Suddenly her eyes brightened and she snapped her fingers. 

"The Asgard technology," she said, delighted at having figured it out. Cam nodded.

"Indeed," added Teal'c. "It is the most valuable thing the Tau'ri have recovered in all it's years of travel through the stargate. It is only natural to assume that many will be seeking ways to get their hands on it."

"Which means we have to be on guard to keep it as far away from our enemies as we possibly can," Vala pointed out. Cam gazed at her and Teal'c and sighed. He was sure they both realized the ramifications, but he felt compelled to spell it out anyway.

"Which means," he concluded wearily. "That when it comes to the Asgard stuff, there's absolutely no room for negotiation. I'm afraid General O'Neill, Carter and Jackson are on their own."


	5. Act 4

**Act 4**

Jack O'Neill had been in plenty of holding cells on plenty of goa'uld ships on plenty of occasions in the past, and if there was one constant to them it was their complete disregard for the comfort of the incarcerated. Long flat bunks of stone lining the walls served as seating and bedding; a small hole in the corner was the head. There was little else save the gleaming walls, which undoubtedly told some horrid tale of the goa'uld god who had built this damned thing in the first place, and the forcefield barrier, which Jack had given up trying to get through when he was a much younger man.

There were few, however, he hated as much as he hated this particular cell.

Cedrun had had the Jaffa deposit him here three hours ago, by his watch. Since then, nothing had happened. At least not to him. No one had called. No one had visited. He had been left completely alone, to stew in his own juices. And he had done plenty of that.

He was supposed to be on his honeymoon. He and Sam cuddled together under a moonlit night on a quiet beach. All the formalities behind them. Simply Mr. and Mrs. Jack O'Neill. No ranks. No Air Force. No Ori. No Asgard technology. No middle of the night pagers going off. No urgent meetings with the Joint Chiefs. No IOA. No Landry. No SG1. Just them. Together. For two luxurious weeks. Rediscovering the pleasures of each others company. Among other things.

Jack sighed and dropped his head backward against the wall, not for the first time. God, how had he let this happen? He'd known there was something amiss from the moment they beamed to that planet and found a stargate waiting for them. Red flags had flashed bright neon in his brain, so he'd kept a sharp eye on their escorts. Hell. He'd known this was coming. And he'd been absolutely powerless to prevent it. Damn desk job. He was rusty at this. Atlantis had shown him that. Useless there; useless here.

And helpless. God. What were they doing to her? He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the images that would keep coming to his mind, but it did no good. Memories of Ba'al's torture kept returning, only instead of himself as the victim it was Sam. Knives. Acid. Death by inches. Or maybe that damned ribbon device. Whatever Cedrun was—Tok'ra or Goa'uld, it didn't matter—he had it in him. Jack had seen it in his eyes.

What if they turned her over to that Jaffa son of a bitch? Jack envisioned her shackled, in agony from those damned pain sticks, pleading with them to stop. Pleading with Jack to make them stop. And as for those bastards from the Lucian Alliance—hell, she'd been roughed up enough by them before. They'd even threatened…if those sons of bitches touched her, he'd….

_You'll what, Jack? Just what the hell can you do locked up in here?_

He could give them Odyssey.

Hell, it would take them twenty years just to figure out how to turn the Asgard hyperdrive on. By then Sam and all the other geeks at Area 51 would have whipped up a whole new batch of defenses and it wouldn't matter one way or the other. He'd save Sam. He'd save Daniel. Sure, they'd lose a few things, but it was worth it.

Except he couldn't. He could practically see Sam's scolding face.

Sir. You can't do it. Not for me. Not for Daniel. It's too important. Do you know what we went through to safeguard the Asgard data? Lose that and we lose everything.

Jack ground the heels of his hands into his eyes and made the image go away. Lose everything. Yeah. He'd lose everything all right. Either way. Everything was lost.

Damn it all to hell.

Damn it all to hell and back again.

o-o-o-o

"Look. You can torture me. You can torture my friends. I really don't care. You won't get the Odyssey. I promise you that."

Daniel sat on the edge of one of the cold stone platforms in an otherwise empty cell and looked indifferently at the Jaffa who was threatening him from the other side of the forcefield. Kete'c was huge. Bigger than Teal'c. And the gold tattoo on his forehead indicated he'd been some goa'uld's first prime. Daniel couldn't recognize the symbol. He'd never seen it before.

"You are very sure of yourself, Dr. Jackson," Kete'c replied evenly. "We have been known to be quite resourceful in our methods. As I'm sure your friend Teal'c can attest to."

Daniel let a sad smile play on his lips. He had not thought of Teal'c in terms of a torturer for many years. That was a different Teal'c. And he was a different Daniel.

"Oh I'm sure you've come up with lots of new and improved ways of inflicting pain and suffering since he was First Prime. I'm just saying. It won't make any difference. You're not getting the Odyssey."

"Perhaps when I display the flailed carcasses of your friends on the floor in front of you, you will feel differently." Daniel could hear a slight rise in Kete'c's voice. A rise of desperation. Something to play upon.

"Nope. Don't think so."

The Jaffa's chest heaved in anger. Daniel knew he was pressing the right buttons. Maybe just a few more.

"But, I'll tell you what," he went on, deciding to strike while the proverbial iron was hot. "I will make a deal with you. You tell me who on my world gave you this information and when our people come to rescue us, I'll see you get a nice comfortable cell right next to them where the two of you can chat for, oh, say, the rest of your natural lives."

The Jaffa swore at him. Daniel smiled back at him.

"Actually…I'm not really sure that's physically possible," he told Kete'c smugly. "At least not for a human."

Kete'c roared. With rage-induced tremors the Jaffa punched in the code to drop the force shield to the cell.

Daniel winced inwardly as he saw the shimmering field disappear. Well. This had been his plan. It was now or never.

And with that, he charged.

o-o-o-o

Something was patting him lightly on the face. It was annoying. He tried to swat it away, but his arm ached ferociously and he dropped it. The patting continued, harder this time. And a sound.

"Daniel. Daniel. Wake up."

He forced his arm up to swat away the annoyance again and this time met something solid. A hand. Jack's hand. Jack's voice.

He raised one eyelid and peeked. Yup. It was Jack alright, bending over him, quite out of focus. He tried raising the other eyelid but found he could not. It seemed to be quite incapable of moving. As was the rest of him. At least not without a very large groan to accompany it. So he groaned.

"Easy big guy," came Jack's voice. He felt Jack's hands help him up into a sitting position and he tried opening the left eye again. More luck this time, but still it was only a slit. Better, though. He now had some depth of vision. Blurry though.

"What happened?" he mumbled and found that his mouth seemed as incapable of moving properly as his eye.

Jack shrugged.

"You tell me. They brought you in here a while ago. You were quite the sack of potatoes. Looks like you took on the whole Jaffa army."

The memory flooded back.

"Mmm," he sighed. "No—just one. Kete'c. Thought maybe I could bust out of here and get some help."

There was a moment of silence.

"So how's that working?" asked Jack finally, absolutely deadpan. Daniel tilted his head so he could see his friend.

"Not so good."

Jack's eyebrows shot up. Or at least Daniel thought they did. Blurry.

"Ahh. Too bad."

"Yeah."

There was more silence. Finally Daniel asked: 

"You okay?"

Jack nodded.

"Better than you."

Daniel looked around, squinting with his good eye.

"Where's Sam?"

He knew he'd hit a chord when he felt Jack stiffen beside him. This couldn't be good if Sam wasn't in here too.

"I'd hoped she was with you," said Jack finally. Daniel hated the sound of his voice.

"No…they separated us as soon as we left you."

An enormous sigh escaped from Jack and Daniel could sense how worried he was. He was starting to be concerned now too. No Sam was not a good sign.

"You didn't…hear…anything did you?" Jack asked after a few seconds. Daniel looked at him uncertainly.

"Hear anything?"

"You know…like…maybe…someone being tortured."

Jack's face was very pale and now Daniel understood why. They'd obviously been making the same threats to him as they'd been making to Daniel: help capture the Odyssey or watch your friends suffer. Except somehow they knew that Sam and Jack were more than friends. Somehow, Daniel had discovered, they knew a whole lot about their lives and the SGC and the Odyssey that didn't seem like something your average off-world alien would know. Someone had to be feeding them information from the inside, otherwise they could never have pulled this off.

God. No wonder Jack looked like hell.

"No—no, I didn't hear anything. I'm sure she's all right, Jack. I don't think they'd really do anything. I have a feeling they're just empty threats."

Jack looked at him out of the corner of his eye appraisingly.

"Ya think?"

Daniel realized his swollen eye and battered lip wasn't doing much to alleviate Jack's worries.

"Oh…this…well, I kinda asked for it. I'm sure they wouldn't hurt Sam."

"Maybe not now, but once the Odyssey gets here and I refuse to order her—or you, for that matter—to help them take control of it…"

"The Odyssey's not coming, Jack."

Jack looked at him with what Daniel thought was a touch of irritation.

"Of course the Odyssey is coming. We transmitted the gate address to it before we left. It's SOP. We're out of contact for 24 hours and they'll come here looking for us." He checked his watch. "I'm thinking we've got about six hours left."

"Except it doesn't know where we are," countered Daniel patiently.

"Yes, it does."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does."

"No…" Daniel sighed. He wasn't going to do this now. "Jack…Sam had me send a bogus gate address to Odyssey. She had a feeling it was a set up from the moment we beamed down to that planet and saw the stargate. She picked a planet she knew was uninhabitable so when Landry got worried and sent a MALP they'd know right away it was a fake. They won't come to rescue us, Jack, because they have no idea where we are."

He could see Jack trying to take in everything he'd just said. He had a peculiar look on his face that Daniel was having a hard time reading. Not confusion, exactly, just…well, perhaps more of a latent realization.

"Carter did that," Jack said finally.

"Yes! She had a hunch about the Asgard technology being the…oh."

It dawned on Daniel, then. Jack had been out of the loop. He'd had no clue what Sam had been up to.

"Look—Jack, I'm sure Sam would have told you if she'd had a chance. I mean, she couldn't risk the Jaffa overhearing us and then once we got here, well…."

"I got it, Daniel," Jack said wearily. "It was a good call."

Daniel frowned. Jack's voice was flat, emotionless. Daniel wasn't sure if it was due to his not knowing Sam's plan or not knowing Sam's whereabouts. Either way, it gave him concern.

"It wasn't Sam's choice, you know." He figured he could at least address one of the problems, even if he hadn't a clue about the other. "Landry insisted on putting her in charge. She argued that you were the one who ought to be making the decisions, but Landry said no—you were the summit representative, not the mission leader. We were your escorts."

"Daniel, what? You think my nose is out of joint cuz I'm not in charge of this mission?"

Daniel hesitated a moment before answering, weighing the likelihood that Jack might not appreciate his honest answer.

He went for it anyway.

"I thought…well, maybe a little."

Jack bestowed on him a long-suffering look before he closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall.

"Yeah. Right."

Okay then. It had to be the other. And that was something Daniel really couldn't help with, except to offer what might turn out to be false comfort. He didn't think Jack would be terribly receptive to that either, but it was worth a shot.

"Look, Jack…if you're worried about Sam…."

Jack's eyes shot open and he skewered Daniel with a dark look.

"She's good, Jack. Really good at what she does. You trained her well. She'll be okay. Besides, we've been in a lot worse situations than this."

Jack sighed.

"Not helping, Daniel."

Obviously. He decided he needed to try a different approach. But before he could think of anything to say, Jack leaned his head back to the wall and stared at the ceiling.

"I never should have agreed to this," he said quietly.

"The summit? Well, it was on opportunity we just couldn't let go by…."

Jack interrupted him.

"Not the summit. To letting you and Carter come with me. It was a bad call."

"I was under the impression that you really didn't have a choice. The IOA insisted."

Jack's smile was bitter.

"Yeah. I should have told them where to stick it."

"Well, as satisfying as I'm sure that would have been…."

He got no further. Jack's irritation stopped him.

"Daniel…just…drop it."

Daniel decided perhaps he'd better. Still, part of him wanted to allay Jack's fears, even if it had absolutely no basis in any fact.

"She'll be okay, Jack. They won't hurt her."

God, he hoped that was true.

Jack didn't say anything.

"And we'll figure a way out of this. Somehow," Daniel added, trying to sound optimistic, even though he didn't particularly feel that way at the moment. He looked at Jack, who had his eyes closed again. "Besides. I spent all that money on a new tuxedo. You think I'm going to let that go to waste?"

That got one eye open from Jack and Daniel thought he saw just a hint of an upward twist to Jack's mouth.

"Can't miss that," Jack replied, after a few moments, before closing his eyes again. But Daniel was relieved to see that the slight smile remained.

o-o-o-o

"The solution is quite simple, Colonel Carter. When the Odyssey arrives here to rescue you, you will give us the shield frequency. And once we have taken control of the ship, you will instruct us on how to access the Asgard technology and data the ship contains."

Sam shook her head.

"First of all, the shield operates on a modulated rotating frequency, which means I have no idea how to give you that. And secondly, there's not a chance in hell I'd do it, even if I could."

Hazon Darr gave her a cold stare that reminded her chillingly of the look on Fifth's face before he had plunged his hand into her head. She brushed the memory aside. She needed to focus on the task at hand and not allow her fears from the past to distract her. Safeguarding the Asgard data was her first priority. Getting them the hell out of here was her second.

"Somehow I doubt that you of all people, Colonel, couldn't find a way to get us on that ship if you really wanted to. My job is to make you really want to."

"Look—you just don't get it. The Odyssey is practically a flying fortress now. Shields. Cloaking device. Weapons. You're never going to take her."

Darr leaned over and placed his face close to hers. Sam flinched at the odor coming off the man and did her best not to gag on the putrid mixture of sweat, day old alcohol and some type of spicily seasoned food. She tried to turn away but he took her by the chin and brought her face back to his. If her hands hadn't been bound behind her in the chair she would have pushed him away. As it was, she had to endure both his physical nearness and his fetid smell.

"Then I guess it would seem that you require a little…persuasion, then, Colonel."

Sam set her face to its steeliest and jutted out her chin. Her dad used to call it her "dig in the heels" look. For good measure she looked at Darr through narrowed eyes and made an effort to give her voice a slight edge.

"You want to torture me, you go ahead."

Darr returned her offered smirk with one of his own.

"How unchivilrous do you think I am, Colonel?" he asked, cooly. "Torture a woman?"

"I've had dealing with the Lucian Alliance before," Sam snapped. "I didn't get the impression gender mattered to them, one way or the other."

"Ahh. Some of my cruder counterparts, perhaps you are referring to. Yes. Well. There are a few I am acquainted with who would find great pleasure in having you at their mercy. Their appetites, however, run in a different vein than mine. I only lust for power."

"Lucky me," muttered Sam before she'd realized it. She glanced at Darr who seemed not to have heard her. _Watch your tongue, Sam,_ she warned herself. No need to push him into anything even more rash. She had wracked her brain to try to remember if Cam had had any dealings with Hazon Darr when he'd been aboard Katan's ship, but the name did not ring a bell. He was probably a second tier lieutenant who'd grabbed what he could after Katan's death. Or reported death. Sam didn't take anything for granted anymore unless she saw it with her own eyes.

"No—I wouldn't dream of harming a hair on your rather attractive head, Colonel. But I have learned on good authority that you have more than, shall we say, a professional relationship with General O'Neill. Which does present me with some very interesting opportunities."

Sam blanched. Darr must have seen her pale because a smile of satisfaction played across his lips. She could have kicked herself. She had to keep Jack out of this. Some way. Some how.

"Whoever is giving you your information is mistaken," she tried sounding unaffected by his threats. "General O'Neill is my superior officer. We have rules about such things where I come from."

"Oh I'm sure you do, Colonel. But trust me. My source is quite unimpeachable. And my threats are quite real. Assist me in taking control of the Odyssey or the next time you see your General O'Neill, not all body parts may be accounted for."

Sam swallowed hard. She'd seen first hand what the Lucian Alliance could do. The image of Paul Emerson gunned down in cold blood was fresh enough to make her eyes sting. Even Teal'c still bore scars from their unrelenting torture. She couldn't put Jack through that. Not again. Not after Ba'al. He still had nightmares….

But it wasn't like she had a choice. The Asgard technology was too vital to sacrifice. Not for Jack. Not for Daniel. Not for her. And when Darr and Cedrun and Kete'c realized there was no way they were going to get their hands on it, they'd probably kill them all anyway. It was probably better to confess what she'd done now and get this over with than to let them try to coerce her further with threats to Jack.

A weary, sickening feeling came over her. God she was tired of fighting these battles. Tired of dealing with every two-bit thug who thought they had a right to rule the galaxy. Once upon a time she had loved her job, even with all its inherent risks. The Ori had changed that. Or maybe just she had changed and the Ori had intruded at precisely the wrong moment. Her life wasn't just about her job anymore. There was so much more to it now, richer and fuller and more exciting than she had ever thought possible. The last thing she wanted to do was to give it all up to stop a bunch of low-lifes like these.

But she would if she had to.

Duty first. Her father's rule.

Jack's rule.

Now it was her's.

Maybe they wouldn't kill them. Maybe she could negotiate for their freedom some other way. Still. When they found out the Odyssey wasn't coming, that no matter what they did to her or to Jack or to Daniel the ship they so desired wasn't going to be within a hundred light years of where they were, Sam could only think of one response they'd make.

Yeah. They'd kill them.

Sam took a deep breath.

It was time to end this. Now.

o-o-o-o

Jack lay on his back, eyes closed, his arm draped over them, ostensibly sleeping. Daniel had tried to get him to come up with a plan for escaping first the cell then the fortress and finally the planet (without a GDO, he might add), but he'd come up with nothing. It had been six hours since anyone had come to the cell. The food and water he could do without and the hole in the corner, well, it met their basic needs. But six hours without any word of Sam was wearing him down. He needed to know something. Anything. And he needed to know now.

As if on cue, there was sudden ceasing to the hum of the forcefield. Expecting Cedrun or one of his goons, Jack decided feigned indifference was the better course of action.

"Sam!" exclaimed Daniel, and Jack found himself on his feet without even having to think about it.

It was her. Standing there. All in one piece.

He scanned her quickly with his eyes, looking for any sign—but he couldn't see any indication that anyone had harmed her. She smiled at him sheepishly and he knew then that she was okay. Some of the tension went out of his body and he suddenly felt feather light. She was okay. For the moment that was all he cared about.

"Um…you know…if you two want to, you know…oh look…why this writing is just fascinating." Daniel walked to the far corner of the cell and pretended to be preoccupied with whatever crap was carved into the wall. Gotta love the guy, Jack thought. Then he turned to Sam.

"You're okay," he said quietly. She nodded. He couldn't help but notice she unconsciously was rubbing her one wrist and he noted that it seemed red and chaffed. Probably had her tied up, the bastard.

"Sure?" he asked again, knowing it was like her to hide things from him that she thought would worry him.

"Sure," she confirmed a second time, and he believed her. "You?"

"Bored to death, but otherwise fine."

She smiled. It was her cautious smile. The one he knew she gave when she was afraid she'd lose control if she didn't hold on tight enough.

"Good." Her curt reply told him everything he needed to know. Daniel was still pretending to examine the far wall.

"C'mere."

She hesitated a moment, and he knew Colonel Carter was debating with Samantha Carter just how much of her defenses to let down. A few years ago it might have mattered to him as well, but at the moment he didn't give a rat's ass about command, propriety or mission protocol. She needed him and he needed her. That was all that mattered.

He took a step toward her and brought her into his arms. A moment of tenseness and then she melted into him. God it felt good to hold her, to feel her body pressing against him, fitting with his in ways that were just too perfect to comprehend. She smelled vaguely of a damp basement, slightly musty and chilled, so he wrapped his arms around her even more tightly, trying to warm her and drive away the last nine hours of whatever it was she had had to endure.

He felt her cling to him, holding on to him as she did when she was afraid—not for herself, but for him. Like she did when she wanted proof that he was there and in one piece, as when he had come back from Atlantis.

"I'm sorry," she half-whispered in his ear as he buried his face in her neck. He held her tighter.

"For what?"

"For getting us into this mess. I should have scrubbed the mission back at the gate."

"We shouldn't have been here in the first place. Bad intel." He'd never quite had a mission debriefing like this, but he didn't want to let her go. Not after nine hours of imagining the worst. "Good call on the bogus gate address though."

"At least the Odyssey will be safe."

"Yeah," was all he could think of to say in return. And at the end of the day, Jack thought sadly, when it came right down to it, that was what really mattered, at least in their screwed up lives.

"Uh, guys…."

Daniel interrupted them. Jack had almost forgotten he was there.

He could hear it now: the sound of zat blasts not too terribly far away. Sam slid out of his arms and hurried to the force shield, rubbering to try to see what was happening. Jack was right behind her and he felt Daniel close in quickly as well. The characteristic whine of the zats was answered by another kind of blast, one Jack didn't recognize. One look at Sam's face, though, and he realized she knew what it was. So, apparently, did Daniel. The pair of them were exchanging a look that made Jack's innards grow cold.

"What?" he asked, looking between the two of them.

"Does that sound like…?" Sam asked, her eyes fixed on Daniel's. He nodded.

"Un-huh."

"What?" Jack asked again, trying to keep from sounding too irritated.

Daniel blinked at him.

"Lance-blasts," he said simply. "Ori lance blasts."

"Here?" asked Jack looking at Sam for confirmation. She nodded as well.

"I'm afraid so."

Jack threw up his hands and shook his head.

"Well. This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"


	6. Act 5

**Act 5**

"And if those who defy the path of salvation care not for their fate, then why should you? Send them now to their everlasting doom. Let others who would think that there is another way to salvation see the fate of those who fail to have their eyes opened by the Ori. Let those who do not believe demonstrate to the uncertain the futility of their doubts. Origin is the one, the only, the true path to eternal salvation."

The prior paused for dramatic effect, Jack noticed. Quite the showmen, these guys. Although he thought he'd seen this one before on a late-night cable show.

"Hallowed are the Ori!" intoned the prior, raising his arms to embrace the air.

"Hallowed are the Ori!" the crowd answered back in unison.

Jack looked over he crowd prostrating on the ground before them and gave a weary sigh.

"Oh crap," he muttered under his breath; and although they didn't say anything, he knew Sam and Daniel were thinking the same thing.

The exchange between the Ori soldiers and the zat-wielding goons of the Tok'ra and the Lucian Alliance had been short and not terribly sweet. Probably, Jack later realized, because mixed in with those Ori weapons had been Kete'c's fellow Jaffa firing right along side them. How ironic, Jack thought, for the traitors to have been sold out by one of their own. Kete'c had obviously had his own agenda that he hadn't let Cedrun and Darr in on and the looks on those two scum bags faces would have been something Jack would have considered paying to see. Not that it would ever happen. They'd escaped to the rings and vanished on whatever ship they'd had in orbit lying in wait for the Odyssey, leaving the three of them behind to be Kete'c's only prize.

A prize he had very gladly and with great ceremony turned over to the prior who had appeared, Jack noticed, once the smoke had cleared. The pasty-faced overseer had given them a long-winded spiel about Origin and implored them to follow the path of salvation.

Jack thought his response had been something along the lines of "kiss my ass", but he wasn't sure. A strong head butt from some weapon had knocked him out cold and when he woke up he, Sam and Daniel were bound and on their knees in front of an entire village that had magically appeared from somewhere.

"It was only about a mile away," Daniel had whispered to him, trying to explain where they were and how they got there. "Apparently the Ori have been here a long time. The whole planet's converted."

"Swell," Jack had said, still trying to get everything into focus. He'd glanced at Sam but she was busy studying the crowd.

It was then that the prior had appeared again and launched into some tedious speech that Jack tuned out completely until he heard the words "everlasting doom." It didn't matter what the context, those two words together were never a good thing, and considering there was a certain lynch mentality fomenting in the crowd, Jack was beginning to suspect that their future did not look promising.

The three Ori soldiers who had been standing behind them stepped forward and hoisted Jack and the others to their feet. The mob who had been on their knees likewise arose and as the prior sauntered down from the dais, they parted to make a path. After receiving a none too gentle poke in the back from that damned lance, Jack reluctantly followed, with Sam and Daniel and their two keepers in his wake. He briefly mused on the idea of pretending to trip, causing his own personal escort to fall over him, which might give Sam and Daniel a chance to take out their own two guys, but upon scanning the faces of the crowd as they passed, he realized there wasn't going to be any help from that quadrant. Nope. Brain-washed was brain-washed. The villagers were goners. The three of them were on their own.

Their small procession led them to what Jack decided looked like the town square. He'd seen dozens of small villages not unlike this on scores of planets, and damned if they didn't always have a town square. He was sure Daniel had some theory on why that was. He may even have told Jack about it once. But then he'd only ever listened to Daniel half the time they were in the field anyway.

Sure enough, once they reached the center of the village, the prior stopped and held up his hand. Jack felt his own progress halted by his Ori guard, and out of the corner of his eye saw Sam and Daniel lined up, once more, next to him. Behind the prior, where there should have been a fountain or some kind of monument or some such thing, there was a large stone circular platform that reminded Jack of some kind of fluted maze, except that it had an odd ski-slope attachment at one end that had a deep trough in it leading to the troughs in the main part. It's design vaguely rang a bell, but it must have struck a chord with the other two because he heard Sam draw in her breath sharply and Daniel mutter: "On no."

Whatever this thing was, it wasn't good.

The prior turned to face them again.

"For your transgressions and lack of faith, it is the will of the Ori that you shall perish."

"The Ori are all dead, you know," Jack replied loudly so that not just the prior but those in the encircling crowd could hear. He now recognized what the stone device was; Landry had sent him a copy of the plan from that damned planet where Sam had almost died. There was no way in hell he or anyone else was going to be burned at the stake. He'd rather let them take a lance blast to the back than put them through that.

"Blasphemer!" responded the prior loudly. "See! Even as he faces everlasting death he continues his evil speech!"

Daniel decided to join in.

"No—it's true. I built a weapon capable of killing ascended beings and we" he indicated Sam and Jack. "We sent it to the Ori galaxy. They're all dead. Oh—yeah. And the Orici is dead too. Ba'al killed her…well, sort of."

"Blasphemers all!" shouted the prior again, and Jack could tell that the guy was working up quite a rage. He didn't care about the prior at the moment, though. He was looking over the crowd, seeing if they'd gained any support there. No one looked remotely converted, however, and Jack got another sickening feeling in his stomach.

It was then that the prior pointed his staff at Sam and gave a nod. Jack saw her guard push her forward, toward the stone ring. His response was immediate. As was Daniel's.

"NO!" They both shouted at the same time, Jack lunging forward, only to be jerked back by the guard. Jack saw Sam look back at him over her shoulder and he went stone cold inside. The look on her face…God. He had to do something. Anything.

"Take me first, you son of a bitch!" he shouted, struggling against the iron grip the goon behind him had on his arms.

"No—take me!" Daniel shouted, struggling in the same way next to him.

But the way the prior smiled directly at Jack told him everything he needed to know. The choice of Sam was not random. It was absolutely and without a doubt, coldly calculated and deliberate. There wasn't a chance in hell he was going to change his mind.

Jack refused to let her die that way.

His eyes met Sam's and he saw her pleading with him to do the only thing left to do. There were enough soldiers around with those damned lances. Enough of a ruckus and they'd have to fire on them. He glanced at Daniel and saw understanding there too.

Yeah.

He looked at Sam one more time and hoped she understood what he could not say, because it would be the last time he'd ever get to let her know. He could see tears well up in her eyes as they locked gazes one final time, and he knew she knew. If he could just touch her….

But he couldn't let himself dwell on that a moment longer. If he was going to do this, he had to do it now. He looked at Daniel and mouthed "On three". Daniel nodded. Jack began the silent count: one, two…

An arc of blue light struck the prior from somewhere in the crowd and he dropped to the ground in a puddle of gray robes. The Ori soldiers, caught unaware, whirled around, lances poised to fire, but each one likewise was zatted from some unknown assailant. Jack, taking a moment to realize what was happening, staggered over to Sam, with Daniel close on his heels, and the three of them hunkered down beside the stone platform. Jack hadn't a clue who was taking out the Ori soldiers or why, but there were two things he did know: bound and weaponless the three of them were sitting ducks; and whoever was doing the shooting, he was beholden to them for the rest of his life, which now had a much better chance of being just a bit longer now than it had a few seconds ago.

"How'd they take out the prior?" he asked, still keeping low and below the level of the exchange of weapons fire.

"They must have had an anti-prior device," Daniel yelled. The blasts made it hard to hear.

"They selling those at Wal-Mart these days?" replied Jack, ducking as a bit of broken rock spattered over them.

"No, sir!" responded Sam. "Besides us, only Ba'al had something like that."

"Great," More blasts over their head. "Goa'uld. Still…when all is said and done I'd rather face…."

Jack was cut off by the sudden appearance of one of the villagers by his side. The guy looked vaguely familiar.

"General O'Neill!" the man shouted, squatting behind the protective wall next to Jack. "Colonel Carter. Dr. Jackson."

Jack saw Sam give the guy a hard look, then an expression of relief spread across her face.

"Major Thompson!"

The man grinned.

"Thought you all might need a little assistance," he said, reaching for his knife and beginning to saw away at their binding ropes.

"What made you think that?" asked Jack, rubbing his wrists now that they were free. "We had a handle on the situation."

Thompson grinned again.

"Yes, sir. I'm sure you did."

"What are you doing here?" Daniel asked, unwinding the now cut rope from his wrists.

Thompson was working on Sam's ropes.

"We've been imbedded with the resistance movement here for about four months. We'd planned to move on the prior and his army in a couple of days, but when we found out you were here we moved things up a bit."

"Thanks," said Sam, gratefully rubbing what Jack couldn't help notice were now truly raw wrists. Now that he didn't have to worry about her burning to death he could be concerned about smaller details. Like the fact that they were still under fire.

"Not that we don't appreciate the rescue, Thompson, but are you sure you've got enough to take these Ori guys down?"

"Don't worry, sir. We've got it under control."

He reached beneath the simple tunic he wore and produced a radio.

"Units four and five, we have the general and his team. You're good to go."

Moments later Jack heard the unmistakable sound of automatic weapons fire coming from behind the entrenched Ori troops. The firefight in the village square abated as they left the area to face the assault coming from their rear. Jack heaved a sigh of relief and sat up straight. Already a group of villagers—and he couldn't tell if they were real villagers or more of the imbedded SG personnel—had moved in and secured the prior and those Ori soldiers who had been simply zatted. Most of the onlookers to their execution had fled at the first shots, but some had unfortunately gotten in the way of the Ori lance blasts. It wasn't a massacre, but it was bad enough.

Thompson must have caught Jack's look.

"Don't worry, general. We've got medics with us. We'll take care of the locals."

"Where's the anti-prior device?" asked Sam, now standing. Jack couldn't help but notice that she'd been quick to recover from their near death experience and was back to business as usual. His heart filled with admiration. Damn, but she was good at what she did.

"One of our people standing close to the prior had it concealed in a pouch. We weren't sure it was going to work having to keep it under wraps like that, but I don't think we can complain."

"Good work, Major," Jack felt compelled to say. The man beamed.

"Thank you, sir. But we couldn't let anything happen to the head of Homeworld Security on our watch. Now, if you follow me, we have secured the stargate. I've got a team standing by ready to gate you home as soon as you can get there. It's a bit of a hike," he added apologetically.

Jack checked silently with Sam to see if she was up for the trek. Of the three of them she'd had the worst ordeal. Her nod was barely perceptible, but Jack could practically read her thoughts. And he agreed. The sooner they got the hell off this planet, the better.

Brushing the dust off his pants and finding his hat securely in his jacket pocket he nodded at Thompson. as he placed it on his head.

"I think we'll manage. Lead on, young man. Lead on."

o-o-o-o

"So the Trust was behind the whole summit thing," Daniel restated, obviously trying to clarify for the fiftieth time what had happened. Jack fiddled with his pen and had to keep himself from checking his watch, also for the fiftieth time.

"Apparently," replied Landry, seated at the head of the conference table. "They fed intel from the SGC to Cedrun, Darr and Kete'c about the SGC personnel and the Asgard data base and used them as a front to try to get their hands on the Odyssey."

"And they fed bad intel through the IOA to get us to go chase our own shadows half-way across the galaxy, just to be on the safe side," added Mitchell.

"They had to have someone on the inside in the IOA too, in order to get them to request General O'Neill to represent earth at the summit," said Sam. "I spoke with Agent Barrett this morning and he says that Woolsey's secretary has gone missing, so I think they're going to be considering her a person of interest in all this."

"Little did the traitors know that they had a traitor of their own in their midst," added Teal'c. "Kete'c was one of Arkad's men. He truly believed that the Ori were the gods who would lead the Jaffa to ascension. It was his intention from the beginning to turn you all over to the prior of that planet. It would have solidified his status as the leader of the Illac Renin in Arkad's place and made him a very powerful ally of the Ori."

Jack's head was hurting. They'd already pieced this together before the official de-briefing and as far as he was concerned the rest of it could wait until he wrote his report, which he was going to have to do before he could get out of this place. God, he hated paperwork.

"Now that we are the sole keepers of the Asgard knowledge, I somehow don't think this will be the last time we'll be the target of someone wanting to get their hands on it," Daniel pointed out. "The sooner we understand and safeguard that knowledge, the better."

Sam was nodding. Of course she was. She'd been practically giddy telling him about the Asgard projects she'd set aside to work on herself.

"R and D is working as fast as they can. The problem is, the amount of knowledge is so vast, it's been hard to know where to begin," she said. Jack could tell she was building up a good head of steam to talk about her favorite topic. Time to cut her off at the pass and get back to the topic at hand. The quicker they got through this the quicker they could move on to those other things that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Asgard, their data or anything remotely related to work.

"Yes. Well. Maybe they have a blueprint in there somewhere for a really good lie-detector so the next time we head out to a meeting we won't end up being kindling for the locals' bonfire," Jack inserted archly. He spun the pen on the table top and let the comment sink in.

"Well, it was certainly lucky for the three of you that SG21 was working with the resistance movement there," Vala piped up. "Believe me. You would not have wanted to have found out first hand the Ori's punishment for non-believers."

Jack glanced first at Sam and then at Daniel. Both looked at him as well and they all understood. They would never have let it come to that.

"Yes. Well, God favors fools, children and General's named O'Neill, I guess," replied Landry, closing the folder in front of him. "And as much as I hate to say this, people, I will need mission reports from all of you before I reinstate your leave. I'll need yours too Jack. You can use my office if you like."

Jack threw Landry a half-smile. Yeah. Hated that paperwork. This was going to be the fastest damn report he ever wrote.

A glance at Sam told him she was thinking the same thing.

o-o-o-

Sam sat on the edge of her bed, her bathrobe pulled tight around her, and gazed at the white satin dress hanging on the back of the closet door. Not really white—more of an aged white—the white of something that had become accustomed to waiting. As indeed this dress had, for over forty years. Ever since its previous owner had had it cleaned and boxed and put away for a daughter she hoped would some day wear it.

The daughter stared at it, apprehensively.

"Sam are you…?"

Cassie's toffee head poked through the door, making Sam jump. She had never felt this jittery before, not even the day she had first stepped through the stargate. It was…unnerving.

"You're not dressed?" It wasn't as much a question as a statement.

Sam winced.

"Not yet…."

A look of parental exasperation crossed Cassie's face. It reminded Sam of Janet.

"Well, hurry up. Daniel called. He said traffic is bad and we need to leave soon."

Sam's eyes were drawn back again to the dress.

"Yeah. In a minute."

She sensed Cassie hesitating.

"You okay?"

Sam forced a smile.

"I'm fine…just…."

"Nervous?" offered Cass.

Sam nodded. Sure. Let her think that. She saw Cassie grin.

"Daniel said Jack was too. You two are hopeless." With a slight laugh, she closed the door.

Sam turned her attention again to the dress and then to the picture she had concealed from Cassie. It was a wedding picture. The bride and the groom alight with laughter, caught in an unguarded moment, and the bride was wearing the dress that now hung on the closet door.

Her mother's dress.

But not her mother's picture.

It was a picture of herself, or a least, one version of herself. The other Sam Carter. The one who'd worn this dress and one year later, almost to the day, watched her Jack die defending Cheyenne Mountain.

They'd brought the picture to her after the quantum mirror had been destroyed, too late to send it through. The other Sam—Dr. Carter, as Sam thought of her—must have left it behind. Even all those years ago, when her feelings for Jack hadn't quite coalesced, she had felt compelled to hang on to the photo, rationalizing that it was, in some way, hers. She'd tucked it in the drawer and forgotten about it.

It was only when she had been rummaging through that drawer, looking for a pair of pearls to wear with that same dress that she'd found it. She had never before realized that Dr. Carter had been wearing her…their…mother's dress. But then, it made sense, in a weird kind of way; they were, in essence, the same person, with the same background and the same emotional baggage. Sam had always intended on wearing her mother's dress if she ever married. Her mother had saved it for her, and Sam felt it would be a way of remembering her and including her in a day she hadn't lived to see. Apparently Dr. Carter had felt the same way.

But the shock of seeing the dress on Dr. Carter had brought her up short. It wasn't that she was superstitious…and certainly they had come a long way down the timeline from when Apophis was a threat to the future of humanity…but she couldn't rid herself of the nagging feeling that if she put on this dress she was asking for a similar fate for both herself and Jack. It certainly wouldn't be at Apophis' hand, but there were enough galactic threats out there to take his place. And their recent escape from the prior's fire pit only solidified that fear.

Sam glanced once more at the picture and then sadly at the dress. No. History would not repeat itself. Time for a different fork in the road.

o-o-o-o

"Hey."

She had slid into position at the back of the chapel so quietly that Jack hadn't even noticed her. She saw his look of delighted surprise and watched as his eyes took in her appearance from head to toe.

"Sorry I'm late," she added in a hushed voice.

"Not a problem," he replied, a quizzical look on his face. "As long as you're here. Change of plans?"

She knew he meant her attire.

"Sort of. I'll explain later. This okay?"

He inclined his head.

"Not quite what I'd expected, but I must say, at least we match."

She smiled and took a deep breath. At least he didn't say he hated it.

Cassie must have given the cue because the organ began to play. Just then Jack leaned over to her, and in a voice that only she could hear, whispered:

"Besides, Colonel…you _know_ my all time favorite activity is taking _off_ the uniform…."

Sam's cheeks were flushed bright pink as they started down the aisle, and Vala later noted that she had never in her life seen Sam look so absolutely stunning.


End file.
